Stay Focused on Jobs and Growth

Last week, the Conservative Government introduced Economic Action Plan 2014 – the next step in our plan for job creation and economic growth.

Canada’s recovery from the recent global recession has been among the strongest in the world with over 1 million more Canadians now working than at the worst of the recession – the best job creation record among all G-7 countries, including Germany.

But we all know there is still more to do. Too many Canadians are still looking for work and the global economic recovery remains fragile at best, especially in Europe and the United States.

That’s why our Government is staying squarely focused on the economy. We’re moving forward with a positive plan that will help create jobs and grow our economy, all while keeping taxes low and remaining on track for balanced budgets in 2015.

Since 2006, the Harper Government has been keeping Canada on the right path for economic growth. This includes lowering taxes over 160 times, which will save the average Canadian family nearly $3,400 on their tax bill in 2014. We’ve also cut taxes for job-creating businesses, allowing them to hire more workers, and have opened up new markets for Canadian goods and services, most recently through the historic Canada-European Union Trade Agreement.

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To help Canadians get the skills and training they need to succeed, our Plan also moves forward with the Canada Job Grant to connect people looking for work directly with in-demand jobs. We’re also introducing the Canada Apprentice Loan to give access to student loans to apprentices for the first time ever.

Economic Action Plan 2014 includes key measures to support Saskatchewan families and strengthen our economy, while keeping taxes low and returning to balanced budgets in 2015, including:

o Launching the Canada Job Grant: so that Canadians can get the skills training they need to get in-demand jobs.

o Creating the Canada Apprentice Loan: which will provide apprentices in Red Seal trades access to over $100 million in interest-free loans each year.

o Launching a Job Matching Service: this new service will automatically match Canadians looking for work with employers looking to hire them.

o Increasing Paid Internships for Young Canadians: investing $55 million to create paid internships for recent graduates in small and medium-sized businesses and in high-demand fields.

o Helping Older Workers Get Back to Work: investing $75 million in the Targeted Initiative for Older Workers to support older workers who want to participate in the job market.

o Cutting Red Tape for Small Business: cutting 800,000 payroll remittances for 50,000 small businesses.

o Making Landmark Investments in Research & Innovation: $1.5 billion over the next decade for research at universities through the Canada First Research Excellence Fund.

o Conserving Canada’s Natural Heritage: investing in Canada’s national parks and historic canals, conserving recreational fisheries, expanding tax relief for the environmental conservation of lands, encouraging clean energy generation with tax relief to new green technologies, and more.

o Supporting Families: enhancing tax relief for families adopting a child, expanding tax relief for health-related services, capping wholesale wireless rates to make service more affordable, cracking down on cross-border price discrimination, and more.

o Strengthening Communities: improving broadband in rural and remote communities, establishing a $200 million National Disaster Mitigation Program to help communities prepare for natural disasters, introducing a Search and Rescue Volunteers Tax Credit, and more.

o Standing Up for Victims of Crime: implementing the Victim’s Bill of Rights and proving funding for a DNA-based Missing Persons Index.

o Supporting and Honouring Veterans: investing $108.2 million over three years (starting in 2013–14) to expand eligibility for the Funeral and Burial Program. This will ensure that modern-day veterans of modest means have access to a dignified funeral and burial.

Equally important, our Plan keeps Canada on track to balance the budget in 2015. From Greece to Detroit, we’ve seen the consequences of governments that don’t focus on putting their fiscal house in order. Balanced budgets do more than signal stability and make Canada a more attractive place to invest, they also keep taxes low and ensure our children and grandchildren aren’t saddled with our debt.

However, unlike the previous Liberal government, who balanced the budget on the backs of the provinces, our Conservative Government continued to grow provincial transfers to record levels. For Saskatchewan, Economic Action Plan 2014 confirmed that transfers will total $1.4 billion in 2014-15 – a whopping 31% increase from under the previous Liberal government.

While the Liberals radically slashed transfers to Saskatchewan, decimating the health care, education and other important social services that families here rely on, under our Conservative Government federal support has grown to historic levels, and will continue to grow into the future.

While the NDP and Liberals don’t agree with getting back to balanced budgets, instead pushing big risky spending schemes and new taxes that will take more out of your pockets, the Harper Government will stick to its proven low-tax plan for job creation and economic growth.

For more information on Economic Action Plan 2014 and how it can benefit you, I encourage you to visit www.actionplan.gc.ca